Skeleton assembly for a simulated french poodle



Oct. 12, 1965 M. A. LANCASTER 3,210,888

SKELETON ASSEMBLY FOR A SIMULATED FRENCH POODLE Filed Nov. 15, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Maria A. Lancasfer l N VEN TOR.

BY W W Oct. 12, 1965 M. A. LANCASTER 3,210,888

SKELETON ASSEMBLY FOR A SIMULATED FRENCH POODLE Filed Nov. 13, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Marie A. L ancas fer 1 N VENTOR.

BY @waaiw United States Patent 3,210,888 SKELETON ASSEMBLY FOR A SIMULATED FRENCH POODLE Marie A. Lancaster, 5732 Tropicana Ave., El Paso, Tex. Filed Nov. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 236,813 1 Claim. '(Cl. 46-163) The present invention generally relates to a toy or novelty item in the form of a simulated French poodle and a novel method of making such a poodle for producing a simulated poodle which is extremely novel in appearance and construction, quite attractive while yet relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

An object of the present invention is to provide a simulated French poodle constructed from readily available material including discarded wire coat or garment hangers of which there is usually an excess in every house hold. The wire coat hangers are formed in a particular manner and then provided with various readily accessible materials attached thereto by following a particular sequence of procedural steps for the purpose of producing a highly attractive French poodle which by virtue of using readily available material some of which may be of no particular value retains the manufacturing cost thereof at a minimum.

Another very important object of the present invention is to provide a simulated French poodle having a wire frame provided with a fabric covering and including a plurality of net or mesh material such as nylon net which is formed in such a manner that they are gathered to form rosettes and are attached to the main body of the simulated animal thereby producing an attractive simulated French poodle.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the completed French poodle constituting the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the construction of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the pair of deformed wire coat hangers illustrating the manner in which these elements are orientated to form the base wire frame;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view illustrating the manner in which the coat hangers are connected;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the basic wire frame with portions of the legs thereof covered illustrating the third sequential step in the formation of the poodle;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of the poodle after the next procedural step;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of the partially completed poodle illustrating the covering attached to all of the base wire frame;

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view illustrating the poodle with certain of the appendages and simulative members attached thereto;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of the poodle with the initial of the rosettes attached thereto;

FIGURE 10 is a detailed view illustrating the construction of the simulated tail which employs pipe cleaners.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally designates the completed French poodle as illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2 which is constructed on a base wire frame generally designated by numeral 12 and illustrated in FIGURE 4. The base wire frame 12 is constructed from a forward member 14 and a rear wire member 16 each of which is in the form of a wire coat hanger deformed in a particular manner to form front ice legs 18 and 20 and rear legs 22 and 24. Each of the legs 18, 20, 22 and 24 are formed by taking the center of a conventional wire coat hanger and bending it upwardly towards the wound portion 26 of the coat hanger and at the same time bringing the inclined portion thereof toward each other thus forming inner and outer parallel wire elements for each leg 18, 20, 22 and 24 with the upper ends of the inner elements being connected as at point 28 and the inner and outer elements being connected at their outer ends by horizontal portions 30 which form front feet. The horizontal portions are designated at 32 on the rear legs 22 and 24 and are offset or deformed laterally toward the forward end of the wire frame thus providing a stable support for the wire frame 12. The extending portion of each of the deformed wire coat hangers 14 and 16 which normally form the hook is straightened out to 'an arcuate curved formation as designated by numeral 34 and the arcuate curved formations are disposed alongside of each other as illustrated in FIGURE 3 and are secured to each other by a suitable binding such as a tape 36 which may conveniently be masking tape or the like. With the elements 34 secured together, the wound portions 26 are diverging as are the legs 18 and 20 with respect to each other and with respect to the legs 22 and 24 thus forming a self-sustaining generally rigid wire frame of the shape and configuration as illustrated in FIGURE 4 and this forms the basic wire frame on which the other components of the French poodle are mounted.

After the basic wire frame has been formed, two pieces of tissue paper of a size approximately 15 inches by 20 inches is crushed together to form generally a spherical crushed tissue ball 38 and this ball is placed between the front and rear leg assemblies in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 5 to form a body for the simulated poodle. Then, each of the legs 18, 20, 22 and 24 are wrapped spirally with a strip of white tissue paper 40 with the ends thereof being secured in place by a strip of masking tape 42. Thus, the legs are covered with white tissue paper which is secured in place by masking tape around the ends thereof and the tissue paper is forced in between the front and rear leg assemblies and held in place by friction. Thereafter a piece of white muslin folded from an eight inch by sixteen inch size to a four inch by four inch folded element is placed over the body and is secured in place by a strip of white muslin 44 which is one inch in width and fifty-four inches long. The white muslin strip is wrapped over and around and under the body to hold the folded muslin member in place with the strip being secured in place by a suitable thread 46 stitching the edges thereof together.

A piece of foam rubber or plastic material preferably one inch thick and two and one-half inches by three inches designated by numeral 48 is provided for forming the head and this is placed over ends of the curved members 34 as illustrated in FIGURE 6 The head forming member 48 is secured in position by a retaining element 50 and there is then placed over the front part of the head a four inch square piece of white muslin 52 and a piece of muslin 9 inches long provided with a slit therein is also extended down over the neck as indicated by numeral 54 with this being held in place by masking tape or stitching.

Four strips of satin 56 are then wrapped around the legs which has been covered by tissue paper 40 with the edges of the satin being stitched together as at 58 and being stitched to the body cover 60 if desired. The satin strips are preferably four inches wide and eighteen inches long and may be any suitable color to provide an attractive appearance. Over the body of the poodle is a body cover of satin material similar to the satin material 56. Also, a satin cover is provdied for the head whereby the entire structure as illustrated in FIGURE 7 will be of a satin construction and shaped in the configuration illustrated. The body includes an underlying layer of muslin insofar as the body is concerned and an underlying layer of tissue with the entire body and legs being covered with satin material prior to attachment of the various appendages.

A satin strip 62 four inches by six inches is wrapped around the neck and stitched thereto. A pair of ears 64 and 66 are provided which are constructed of a felt wool approximately two inches wide and three and one-half inches long and being generally oval-shaped. The color of the ears 54 and 56 may be any suitable color similar to the color of the satin covering material. The ears 64 may have a slit 68 formed therein for receiving a net strip which goes under the neck as illustrated by numeral 70 for securing the ears in position on the head. A strip of mesh material 72 encircles the muzzle or snoot of the dog and this may be of a similar color to the satin material. A pair of eye-forming members 74 in the form of buttons are stitched in place on either side of the head to form the eyes and a black button 76 is stitched to the nose and black thread or similar colored threads 78 is employed for stitching through the satin cover to form the mouth just below the button 76.

The tail is formed by a plurality of conventional pipe cleaners 80 that are assembled and retained in place by a satin covering 82 and this is secured to the body by stitching.

There is provided a plurality of nylon mesh members four inches wide and seventy-two inches long which are gathered separately and stiched in such a manner to form a plurality of rosettes constructed from the material and' designated by numeral 84. The mesh material is preferably a nylon net which is shape-sustaining and quite attractive and generally forms pompous which are stitched to the previously formed body and legs and in order to form the rosettes, two of the gathered strips are placed together on top of each other to form a full rosette. As illustrated in FIGURE 9 and also in FIGURES 1 and 2, the rosettes are placed in such a manner that two rosettes are on each leg, one is on the tail and one is on top of the head. A flower cluster 86 is sewed to the center of the head forwardly of the rosette as illustrated in FIG- URES 1 and 2 and a fanciful ribbon 88 encircles the neck of the animal to provide further decorative appearance features thereto. All of the components may be constructed of the same color with the ribbon and flower cluster being of different colors and, of course, the eye buttons and nose and mouth representations being of a different color. The color combination may vary thereby enabling the toy French poodle to closely simulate the actual color appearance of a French poodle.

While the particular size of certain of the components has been specifically illustrated, it is pointed out the shape and configuration of the various components may be varied without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Further, the particular mesh material may be other types of netting and materials other than muslin could be employed as long as fabric, tissue paper and a second covering is employed. Such materials are readily available thus rendering the device relatively inexpensive to manufacture and also the present invention enables persons ordinarily skilled in the sewing arts to readily construct the device thereby enabling a person to construct their own simulated French poodle without too much difficulty and expense.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

In a simulated French poodle, a front leg assembly and a rear leg assembly, each leg assembly being a single wire and including an extension at the upper end of the legs thereof in the form of a wire rod with the wire rods extending from the upper ends of the leg assemblies and being secured together, each leg assembly including a pair of downwardly diverging wire members with a front assembly diverging from the rear leg assembly and forming an inverted V-shaped crotch at and below the juncture of the extensions thereby forming means for receiving a body member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,590,898 6/26 McAuley 46-160 1,630,165 5/27 Butler 46-158 1,731,089 10/29 Adams 29-428 2,060,058 11/36 Engelmeier 161-9 2,073,723 3/37 Woolnough 46-158 2,109,422 2/38 Haughton 46-158 X 2,257,154 9/41 Bleyer 161-9 2,486,989 11/49 Schneider 46-156 2,765,525 10/56 ONeill 29-428 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner. 

